


Just Might Be

by DesertVixen



Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: Gen, Growing Up, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 04:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2799203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stacey and Laine face to face again</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Might Be

**Author's Note:**

  * For [knitstormmcknittingplan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knitstormmcknittingplan/gifts).



“I bet you’re excited about next weekend,” Claudia said as she critically examined her toes, freshly painted shocking neon violet. 

“I can’t wait! Mom is so calm. I think I would just be a wreck,” Stacey said. 

Of all the weddings that she had ever imagined being excited to attend, Stacey never would have put her mother’s second wedding on the list. Her father’s wedding three years ago had been exciting, but she hadn’t been very involved in planning it. When she had watched her dad and Samantha tie the knot in a splashy rooftop ceremony overlooking New York City, Stacey had foolishly thought that her mother would be getting married again sooner rather than later.

It hadn’t happened that way. Her mother had gone on plenty of dates, but none of them had worked out. Of course, her mother had also put a lot of time and energy into her clothing boutique, Butterflies, and it hadn’t been until she went to a business dinner party thrown by the Brewers that Maureen had actually met someone worth meeting. Scott Chiles was a transplant to Stoneybrook as well, but from California. The two of them had taken things slowly, and Stacey had begun to think that she would graduate from high school before her mother got married again.

Scott had proposed to her mother at the Brewers’ New Year’s Eve party, at the stroke of midnight. Stacey had actually been there to see it, since Kristy’s mother had put the former Baby-Sitters Club members in charge of the balloon drop at midnight. The look of pure, surprised joy on her mother’s face as she said “yes” was a moment she would not forget. To Stacey’s dismay, the two of them had originally discussed getting married at the courthouse. Luckily, she thought, that idea had been squashed when Scott’s parents came out to meet them. 

So they had compromised. Maureen had refused to have a huge splashy wedding, especially since Scott didn’t care one way or the other. The wedding would be small and elegant, with a very simple ceremony and a huge reception. Stacey couldn’t wait. Her dress was hanging on the back of her closet door, and she’d bought the perfect shoes for it on a mother-daughter shopping trip in New York. She and Claudia had been experimenting all week with different ways to do her hair. The current favorite was a low chignon, accented with some of Claudia's handmade hair jewelry - much like one of the pieces that were sold in Butterflies.

The wedding also meant coming face to face with Laine Cummings again. Stacey met her in New York City from time to time, but it was always something that wasn’t focused on the two of them where it was easy to drift. As much as it pained Stacey to admit it, the two of them just didn’t have that much in common anymore. The two of them had been friends for the first twelve years of their lives, until Stacey’s diabetes became a problem.

Laine’s last visit to Stoneybrook, when they had been in eighth grade, had been nothing short of disastrous. Laine had acted snobby and spoiled, but looking back, Stacey knew that Laine hadn’t been the only one at fault. Now, she could look back and laugh a little at how needy and pushy she had been, how silly. It was better to laugh, because otherwise it made her a little sad.

Their mothers had remained close, especially after Julie Cummings walked into her husband’s office and caught him with a naked aspiring actress on his desk. Julie wouldn’t miss the wedding for anything and Laine was coming with her, willingly or not. It would be a short and busy visit, so Stacey expected things would go smoothly on the personal front.

Stacey had come to accept that things between her and Laine would never be like they had before Stacey found out she had diabetes. The memory of waking up on the wet mattress, Laine’s disgusted face looking down. Then the whispers had started at school – either Laine or one of the other girls at the sleepover – and her life had changed, in addition to her parents taking her to every medical professional in New York City. Sometimes she wondered if they would have grown apart anyway, even without the diabetes. 

It didn’t matter. Stacey knew she would never get her kindergarten friend back. They were just too different.

“By the way,” Stacey said brightly, “did I tell you Laine is coming to the wedding?”

Claudia set down the nail polish bottle she was shaking. “No, you didn’t.”

“Just for the wedding. She’ll be here Friday and Saturday night, and they’ll leave Sunday afternoon.”

“Am I still helping you get ready?” Claudia asked quietly.

“As long as you don’t mind helping Laine just a little,” Stacey replied hopefully. “I don’t want her to feel left out.”

Claudia grinned. “I can deal with her for a little while.”

*** *** ***

“You cut your hair!” Stacey said by way of greeting. Laine’s long dark hair was gone, replaced by short feathered waves that hugged her face.

“What do you think?” Laine asked, giving Stacey a quick hug.

“It looks great!”

Laine grinned. “You always did have good taste.” Fashion was one of the topics that was always safe for the two of them, Stacey reflected.

Stacey picked up the bag at Laine's feet. "Let's get out of here."

*** *** *** 

Julie Cummings had whisked Maureen off for a posh private spa evening that night, leaving Stacey and Laine to fend for themselves. They had ordered pizza, flirted lightly with the cute delivery boy, and settled down to dinner without any issues. Wedding chatter provided enough distraction to carry them through the evening.

“I love your dress!” Laine said, examining the cornflower blue slipdress. It was simple and elegant, just the thing for a spring afternoon.

“It’s perfect for the wedding, and I found these gorgeous silver sandals to wear with it. You should see Mom’s dress, though.”

“Let’s go see it,” Laine decided. The two of them giggled as they tip-toed down the hallway, not that there was anyone else in the house to see them. 

Maureen Spencer’s wedding dress hung on the back of her bedroom door. It was nothing like her first wedding dress, the one Stacey remembered from her parents’ wedding picture. When she was a little girl, she had thought that dress was so beautiful, with its huge poofy lace sleeves and beads, pure gleaming white. This dress was blush-tinted ivory, a figure-skimming sheath with cap sleeves and trumpet skirt, and a lace overlay that made for the smallest of trains. There would be no veil this time around.

“Remember the time we got in trouble because your mom caught us playing with her veil?” Laine asked as they walked down to the living room. 

Stacey grinned. “I remember.” It kicked off a string of good stories from when they had been small, but Stacey noticed that both of them were a little careful about which stories they picked to tell.

They were getting ready for bed, having stayed up late enough to watch their mothers come back beautified and a little tipsy, giggling like a pair of teenage girls themselves. Maureen and Julie had met and become friends in college, and stayed that way through everything. It was only natural that their daughters would be friends as well, and Stacey couldn’t help feeling just a little jealous that their mothers could still be so close. It wasn't that she needed a best friend - Claudia was the best friend she could have - but she just missed Laine. 

“Hey, Stacey,” Laine called, and Stacey turned from where she was giving her hair a last brushing. “I was going to ask if you knew anything about college yet.”

“NYU, of course,” Stacey replied. “I got my early acceptance letter already. What about you?”

“Still waiting on a letter, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.” She gave Stacey an almost-shy smile. “School might be a little more fun with you there too.”

“Yeah,” Stacey echoed, “it might be.”

It just might be, Stacey told herself as she lay in the dark, trying to go to sleep.  
*** ***

**Author's Note:**

> So, I hope you liked it! 
> 
> References for the books: BSC #51, BSC SS #11, and BSC FF #10.


End file.
